WhenKing Charlesis crowned on May 6, he will have the woman he loves,Queen Camilla, crowned alongside him — just like his grandfatherKing George VI.
While Charles, 74, has prepared for being monarch for decades as the heir to the throne, George VI had the crown thrust upon him after the sudden abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936. A nervous man who stuttered and needed help with his speech-making skills, George VI had the unwavering support of his wife Elizabeth who was a forthright and confident woman.
“The times were very different in 1937, but as was the case with George VI for very different reasons, Camilla is a source of great strength for Charles,” says royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, whose new bookGeorge VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchyis out now. “As before, they were a very tight partnership, a very intertwined one, and that’s the case today as well with Charles and Camilla.”
“In both cases they were very different personalities, but in both instances the source of strength was important,” she adds.
King Charles and Queen Camilla.Hugo Burnand / Buckingham Palace
Arguably, Camilla, 75, who married Charles 17 years ago, is likely to need a different kind of reassurance as she was not born into royal life and had a late introduction to the rules and protocols.
“We are talking about two people who have been divorced and whose romance was fairly notorious, and that does bring along with it a whole different set of judgments and assumptions from others that were not the case in 1937,” Bedell Smith tells PEOPLE.
Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret and King George VI on the balcony at Buckingham Palace May 12, 1937 after the coronation of King George VI.Getty Images
“George VI had taken the throne after his older brother wanted to marry a woman who had been divorced twice and was untenable in those days. That simply couldn’t happen in a religious or constitutional sense,” she says.
The author, who has also written well-received books on Charles and his late motherQueen Elizabeth, adds that Charles doesn’t need much help in the front-facing element of his role, such as speech-making and public appearances.
She adds, “Charles and Camilla have been through so much together. To the degree to which he will need reassurance, she will be there. Charles can stand in front of a group and be very comfortable about it — unlike George VI who had to really work on it.”
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“It was sheer determination on his part and a lot of practice to learn not very many lines. It was really poignant in a way how much he had to work to do something like that.”
“Charles has been taking instructions from the Archbishop of Canterbury and George VI andQueen Elizabethmet with the then Archbishop and prayed with him. They took the traditions and rituals very seriously,” Bedell Smith says. “I have no doubt that Charles and Camilla are doing so as well.”
source: people.com
